Sao Paulo E-Prix: Reigning champion Wehrlein pips Rowland to pole, Jaguar struggle

Reigning Method E champion Pascal Wehrlein started his title defence in excellent trend with pole for the Sao Paulo E-Prix season-opener, besting Oliver Rowland by simply one-tenth.

The Porsche driver was practically two tenths behind Rowland after the opening sector across the Brazilian avenue circuit, however progressively pulled that deficit again over the rest of the tour.

His 1m09.851s was the quickest lap from the whole lot of qualifying as the brand new Gen3 Evo automobile launched all-wheel-drive in 350kW mode for the primary time, with Rowland suggesting by way of group radio he had overdriven within the last two corners.

Wehrlein had earlier set the quickest time within the second qualifying group and made it by means of his qualifying semi-final duel in opposition to Maximilian Gunther after posting a 1m09.859s which left him practically half a second quicker.

Andretti’s Jake Dennis, who topped the opening qualifying group, missed out on a spot within the finals to Nissan’s Rowland by simply 0.001s having suffered a scrappy first sector that left him greater than two tenths behind.

Dennis was by no means headed in his duel in opposition to DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne, posting a 1m09.957s – the quickest lap within the quarter-finals – which left him greater than half a second clear.

Gunther made it by means of on the expense of Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara, however the two DS Penske team-mates practically collided as they accomplished their respective warm-up and cooldown laps.

Rowland beat Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa by simply 0.060s regardless of reporting issues with the steering forward of his lap, as Wehrlein completed a tenth away from Norman Nato’s second Nissan.

Maserati MSG’s Stoffel Vandoorne missed the minimize within the second qualifying group by 0.074s, with Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum solely 0.001s additional behind.

Robin Frijns (Envision), the second Andretti of Nico Muller, Taylor Barnard (McLaren) and rookie Zane Maloney (Lola-Yamaha Abt) accomplished the checklist of drivers to submit a time.

Final season’s championship runner-up Mitch Evans didn’t set a lap as his Jaguar got here to a cease on monitor within the opening minutes, a problem that additionally occurred in FP1, which introduced out the purple flag.

The primary qualifying session of the season was a troublesome affair for the reigning groups’ champions, as team-mate Nick Cassidy was the primary driver to overlook the minimize within the opening qualifying group by one-tenth as all drivers failed to enhance on their last efforts – a consequence of utilizing a softer compound of Hankook tyre this season.

Sebastien Buemi within the Jaguar-powered Envision was sixth forward of dwelling hero Lucas di Grassi, who took seventh on Lola-Yamaha’s Method E debut.

McLaren’s Sam Bird suffered a entrance driveshaft problem in FP2 and solely managed eighth forward of former team-mate Jake Hughes (Maserati MSG), as David Beckmann for Cupra Kiro and Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries accomplished the order practically six tenths in arrears.